SHAHRAZAD’S GIFT
by
Gretchen McCullough
Contemporary Fiction / Linked Short Stories / Humor
Publisher: Cune Press
Date of Publication: February 20, 2024
Number of Pages: 198 pages
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Shahrazad’s Gift is a collection of linked short stories set in contemporary Cairo—magical, absurd and humorous. The author focuses on the off-beat, little-known stories, far from CNN news: a Swedish belly dancer who taps into the Oriental fantasies of her clientele; a Japanese woman studying Arabic, driven mad by the noise and chaos of the city; a frustrated Egyptian housewife who becomes obsessed by the activities of her Western gay neighbor; an American journalist who covered the civil war in Beirut who finds friendship with her Egyptian dentist. We also meet the two protagonists of McCullough's Confessions of a Knight Errant, before their escapades in that story.
These stories are told in the tradition of A Thousand and One Nights.
My Review
Shahrazad's Gift is an anthology of stories that are interconnected in small ways. Set in Cairo, the book gives readers a window into the life of a quirky bunch of characters. It does include adult content, starting within the very first story, so there are no misgivings about who the audience is in terms of age. From Egyptians to expatriate Americans and Europeans, this book presents an eclectic mix of personalities. Some of the stories follow characters that appeared before or step into the shoes of side characters that were introduced in prior stories. All in all, this makes for a wide blend of perspectives and events.
Expanding on the humor presented in her previous book, Confessions of a Knight Errant, Gretchen McCullough does a great job of weaving together the assortment of characters in Shahrazad's Gift. The book takes an approach similar to the classic A Thousand and One Nights, which featured stories told by Shahrazad, but with a contemporary lens. Early on, Batilda is the common link, but other links are made as the book goes along. Part of the fun of reading each story was figuring out where it fits in amongst the others. I liked following the smaller threads and seeing them lace into a broader tapestry of these peoples' lives.
I liked the varying characterizations of the expatriate characters, since it provided a quick way to have an outsider perspective - on the inside of Cairo. It's clear that McCullough pulls from her experiences living outside of the US without losing the importance of the US as an influence on its prior citizen's thoughts and actions. Sometimes stories felt like critiques of outsiders living in foreign countries, and others felt like critiques of the perceptions held TOWARDS outsiders. The blend of nations represented in the story made for a very interesting time and a good deal of conflict.
Overall, I enjoyed Shahrazad's Gift and think it'd be a great book for discussion about foreign living and perceptions of life in other countries. I liked the humor, though I found some stories to be funnier than others. Ultimately, there is a broad mix of stories with a variety of fun viewpoints and bizarre people whose lives are all interconnected, even if they don't realize it or if it's in very small ways via acquaintances or locations. I give Shahrazad's Gift a Lone Star rating of ✯✯✯✯ stars. Some of the stories won't hit for everyone and some of the characters aren't exactly likable, but the blend of strange and normal is part of this book's charm.
Gretchen McCullough was raised in Harlingen Texas. After graduating from Brown University in 1984, she taught in Egypt, Turkey, and Japan. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama and was awarded a teaching Fulbright to Syria from 1997-1999. Her stories, essays and reviews have appeared in The Barcelona Review, Archipelago, National Public Radio, Story South, Guernica, The Common, The Millions, and the LA Review of Books. Translations in English and Arabic have been published in: Nizwa, Banipal, Brooklyn Rail in Translation, World Literature Today and Washington Square Review with Mohamed Metwalli. Her bi-lingual book of short stories in English and Arabic, Three Stories From Cairo, translated with Mohamed Metwalli, was published in July 2011 by AFAQ Publishing House, Cairo. A collection of short stories about expatriate life in Cairo, Shahrazad’s Tooth, was also published by AFAQ in 2013. Currently, she is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition at the American University in Cairo.
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(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 4/12/24)
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LOVE, love this review and what you said about the smaller threads weaving into a bigger tapestry. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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